Grain-car door.



C. S. EATON. i

GRAIN UAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.13, 1907.

Patented Aug. 24. 1909.

3 SHEETS-.SHEET 1.

mnnzw, a, (mum no. womuruommms. wASwmGmx. n c.

C. 8.. EATON. GRAIN GAE DOOR.

APPLIOATION nun H0113, 1907.

93 1 ,739. Patented Aug. 24,1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

mulsw, & 01mm! no. rmmnccwlem msmmw. n a

U. S. EATON.

GRAIN CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.13, 1907.

931,739, Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

avwemtoz GAYZTQZUIZ,

jss

CLARK S. EATON, 0F ORR, NORTH DAKOTA.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 24., 1909.

Application filed November 13, 1907. Serial No. 401,980.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARK S. EATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orr, in the county of Grand Forks, State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Car Doors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention has reference to grain-car doors, and it aims, generally to provide a device of that nature composed of a plurality of independent sections adapted for individual movement into lowered and raised position, and in the latter position, to be held in place against the car roof by fastening devices secured thereto, so as to be entirely out of the way during the unloading operation and to interfere in no respects with the same.

More especially, however, the invention resides in the specific construction of the door sections; in the particular means employed for effecting the retention of said sections in lowered position; and finally, in the particular construction of the fastening devices which engage the sections when the latter are raised.

The invention will be readily understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, its preferred embodiment being illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like parts or features, as the case may be, are designated by correspond ing reference numerals in the several views.

Of the said drawings :-Figure 1 is a fragmental side elevation of a grain-car provided with the improved door. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the car. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the car-roof, taken from the interior of the car, and showing the door sections in place thereagainst. Fig. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section through one of the door posts showing the socket formed in the guide plate secured thereto. Fig. 5 is an enlarged collective view of one of the bolts carried by the top section of the door, and the pin with which it is adapted to be engaged. Figs. 6 and 7 are transverse vertical sections taken through Fig. 1, Fig. 6 showing the entire door in closed position, and Fig. 7 showing the entire door in raised position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 5 designates, generally, the car in one of the sides of which the door opening 6 is cut, said opening extending from the floor of the car to its roof, in the usual manner.

The vertical posts 7 and 8 which are dis posed at the opposite sides of the door open ing have their mutually-opposite side faces provided with steel-lined longitudinal grooves 9 in which the opposite ends of the bottom section 10 of the door fit, the length of said section being slightly less than the distance between the bottom walls, so to speak, of said grooves, so as to permit an easy sliding movement of said section from lowered to raised position. The ends of said section which fit in the grooves are provided with metal reinforcing plates 11, and its outer face has secured thereto a central reinforcing plate 12 and a pair of handles 13 located upon opposite sides of the latter, said handles being formed upon plates bolted to the door section.

The under face of the car roof is provided with a pair of transverse guides 14, each of which consists of two parallel strips arranged in spaced relation to each other and connected by a longitudinally-slotted face late 15, the slot registering with the space between the strips above referred to and having its outer end open. These guides, whose outer ends extend up to the adjacent side edges of the roof, are disposed exactly in alinement with the handles so that the door section may be raised until said handles are directly in front of the open ends of the guides, whereupon the section maybe moved inwardly across the car roof and retained in position thereagainst, the handles fitting in the guide grooves, i. (2., the spaces between the strips of each guide, as will be understood.

The grooves 9 in the door posts are widened at their upper ends so as to permit the door section to be disengaged therefrom and its handles engaged with the guides 14, but a complete detachment of said section from the car is prevented by means of a pair of chains 17 each of which is secured at one end to the reinforcing plate adjacent the corre sponding post, and is passed at its other end through an o )ening which is formed in the upper end of the post and communicates with a vertical passage 19 formed therein in which a rod 20 is slidable, the insertion of the rods in the passages prior to the attachment of the posts in lace preventing the withdrawal of the rods from said passages, as will be apparent.

The top section 21 of the door is similar, in the main, to the bottom section, carrying on its front face a central reinforcing plate 22 and a air of handles 23. The ends of this plate, however, are not reinforced but are adapted to fit against the rear or inner faces of the posts, which latter are provided with longitudinal guide grooves 24, said grooves registering with the longitudinal slots 25 in a pair of plates 26 secured to said posts, the slots in said plates having their upper ends 0 en. The distance between the edges of t e slots 25 is slightly less than that between the side walls of the grooves 24 and the latter extend up to the very tops of the posts, whereas the plates 26 stop short of the post tops and are furthermore, broken away at one side, as shown in Fig. 2.

The car roof is further provided with a second pair of grooved transverse guides 27 which are disposed directly in line with the guide grooves 24 and are identical in construction with the guides 14 above described. The guide grooves 24 and 27 are adapted to receive the headed inner ends of a pair of bolts 28 movable through perforations formed in the top door-sections adjacent the side edges thereof. When the last-mentioned section is in its lower position, in which instance it extends slightly below the upper edge of the bottom section 10, the bolt heads fit in mating sockets 29 formed in the inner faces of the plates 26, and are held against displacement therefrom by wedge-shaped pins 30 which fit in similarly-shaped openings formed through the bolt shanks, the door section being thus held tightly against the door posts and its upward movement prevented until the pins are removed from the bolts. The outer end of each pin is preferably connected to the corresponding post by a chain or other flexible element 31 to prevent the pins from becoming misplaced and lost. The bolts are of sufficient length to permit a slight play through the openings in the door section when the pins are detached therefrom.

It will thus be apparent that both sections of the door may be retained in lowered position, and may also be raised and subsequently supported upon the corresponding guides secured to the car roof. The top section of the door is likewise held against complete removal from the car by means of a pair of chains-32 each of which is secured at one end thereto and at the other end to a rod 33 movable within a second longitudinal opening in the posts 7 and 8, the rods being provided for the same purpose as the rods 20.

In opening the door, the top section 21 is first raised by means of its handles, until the l bolts 28 clear the plates 26 which latter, as stated, are broken away at one side, the clearance of these plates permitting said section to be lifted against the car roof and its bolts engaged with the guides 27. The lower section 10 is then raised by means of its handles 13, until the ends of said sections reach the open u per ends of the grooves 9, whereupon said fbwer section may likewise be lifted against the roof and its handles engaged with the guides 14.

Owing to the fact that the top section eX- tends below the upper edge of the bottom section, escape of grain between said sections is prevented.

While a single top section has been shown and described, it will be apparent that more than one may be made use of, and in such case the plates 26' will be provided with a corresponding number of sockets 29 for the reception of the heads of the bolts carried by the sections. The several top sections, when made use of, are successively raised and engaged with the guides 27 which are of sufficient length for this purpose. It will likewise be ap arent that while the door, as a whole has een designed especially for grain cars, it may be used with equal facility in connection with coal-cars.

What is claimed is 1. The combination, with a car having a door-opcning formed in one side thereof, and a door-post located at each side of said opening, each post being provided with a pair of independent vertical guides, of a door comprising upper and lower independently-movable sections, the lower section having its ends slidably fitting in the corresponding set of guides, a pair of laterally-projecting members carried by the upper section adjacent its ends, said members extending into the other set of guides, a pair of laterally-projecting members carried by the lower section intermediate. its ends, and an inner and an outer pair of horizontal guides secured to the roof 7 of the car, the outer pair of guides being disposed in alinement with the first-mentioned pair of laterally-projecting members, andarranged for engagement therewith when the upper section is in its raised position, the inner pair of guides being disposed in alinement with the last-mentioned pair of laterally-projecting members and arranged for engagement with the same when the lower section is in its raised position.

2. The combination, with a car having a door-opening formed in one side thereof, and a door-post located at each side of said opening, each post being provided with a vertical guide groove, of a slidable door provided at each end with a horizontal opening, a bolt slidable through each opening and formed with a head received in the adjacent groove, the walls of the grooves overhanging the belt heads, and means arranged for engagement with said bolts, to clamp the door in one position against the posts.

3. The combination, with a car having a dooropening formed in one side thereof, and a door-post located at each side of said opening, each post being provided with a vertical guide groove, of a slidable door provided at each end with a horizontal opening, a bolt slidable through each opening and formed with a perforation and with a head received in the adjacent groove, the Walls of the grooves overhanging the bolt heads, and wedge-shaped members arranged for engagement in the perforations in said bolts, to clamp the door in one position against the posts.

4. The combination, with a car having a door-opening formed in one side thereof, and a door-post located at each side of said opening and provided with a vertical groove, of a plate secured to the grooved face of each post, eachplate being formed with a vertical slot communicating throughout its length with the corresponding groove, the

' width of the slots being less than that of the grooves, each plate having a socket formed in its inner face, a slidable door provided at each end with a horizontal opening, a bolt slidable through each opening and formed with a head extending through the adjacent slot into the corresponding groove and adapted to be received in the corresponding socket when the door is in one position, and means arranged for engagement with said bolts, to clamp the door in such position.

5. The combination, with a car having a door-opening formed in one side thereof, and a door-post located at each side of said opening and provided with a vertical groove, of a plate secured to the grooved face of each post, each plate being formed with a vertical slot communicating throughout its length with the corres ending groove, the width of the slots being ess than that of the grooves, each plate having a socket formed in its'inner face, a slidable door provided at each end with a horizontal opening, a bolt slidable through each opening and formed with a perforation and with a head, the head Of each bolt extending through the adjacent slot into the corresponding groove and being adapted to be received in the corresponding socket, when the door is in one position and wedge shaped members arranged for engagement in the perforations in said bolts, to clamp the door in such position.

6. The combination, with a car having a door-opening formed in one side thereof and a door-post located at each side of said open? ing, each post being provided with a vertical guide groove, of a pair of grooved horizontal guides secured to the roof of the car, of a slidable door provided at each end with a horizontal opening and a bolt projecting through each opening and formed with a head arranged to extend into and to travel in said vertical grooves during the upward movement of the door into open position, and to travel from said vertical grooves into the grooves in said horizontal guides, to suspend the door in such position from the lat ter, the walls of said grooves overhanging the bolt heads.

In testimony whereof, I afIiX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CLARK S. EATON.

Witnesses:

M. Q. BINGMAN, GORDON MONTGOMERY. 

